


Overwhelmed

by Tess_01



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Anxious! Techno, Comfort, Gen, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, I'm not quite sure what to classify this as, Panic Attacks, Party, Partying, Sensory Overload, Social Anxiety, Stress, Supportive! Dream, Supportive! Tommy, Techno is a bit of a mess, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-16 20:14:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28712610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tess_01/pseuds/Tess_01
Summary: When Techno loses Tommy at a party he doesn't really want to be at in the first place, he freaks out.As it turns out, social anxiety and parties are not a good combination at all, even though it does lead to making a new friend in the midst of the chaos.
Relationships: Clay | Dream & Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF), Technoblade & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 308





	Overwhelmed

In hindsight, Techno should have known that going to the party was a bad idea. He had not intended to go – a house party from some people he didn’t even know in the slightest did not conform to his idea of a well-spent night – but then Tommy had begged him to come with. And as it turned out, he was just terrible at saying no to the persuasive entity that was his little brother.

The rhythmic thumping of the bass-boosted music violated his eardrums, while hordes of people were pressed together in a space that was way too small to be stuffed with so many sweaty bodies. And the booze – oh, there was _so much booze_. It sloshed around in cups that were passed around clumsily, it sprayed out of bottles filled with god-knows-what and stuck to the floor and his shoes like glue. How nobody had gotten seriously hurt yet, Techno didn’t know. But then again, if someone did actually pass out, nobody would notice. They would be kept upright anyway like a drunk unconscious party puppet, sandwiched between Jack from the Lacrosse team and the numerous girls that flocked around him, begging for his attention.

If Techno hadn’t actually been feeling like passing out himself, the thought would’ve made him chuckle.

But as he scanned the crowd for the familiar face once again and tightened his grip on his drink, he came to the same dizzying conclusion as he did two minutes ago.

He lost Tommy.

How did he manage to lose _Tommy_ , out of all people? The kid was loud and energetic, someone who could not simply disappear from a party without it going unnoticed. He thrived in social situations - something that Techno absolutely could not relate to - and to top it all off, he was tall in all of his pubescent glory. Impossible to miss, really. So where did he go?

His head felt strangely fuzzy as the music grew louder. Around him, people jumped and cheered, bumping into him and knocking the drink out of his hands and onto the floor. Nobody noticed his spilled drink. The cold liquid seeped into his shoes and wetted his socks. It was sticky and disgusting.

He really needed Tommy to be here, to ramble about anything that was on his mind, interesting or not, just to keep him from freaking out. He needed to find Tommy.

He searched for Tommy in the crowd again, arms trying to block most of the bright strobe lights that stung his eyes more and more with every thud of the music. A headache formed behind his eyes. 

Maybe Tommy was getting some drinks, his mind supplied. That seemed like a Tommy thing to do. But all orientation of where he was in this strange house was lost. He was stuck in a mass of faceless people, with no room to move and no way to find out where to go. The walls closed in around him and Techno fought the urge to scream.

Then, someone grabbed his shoulder and Techno jolted, whipping his head around and staring right into the face of a blond man with piercing green eyes and a gentle smile.

“Are you okay, dude?” green-eyes shouted. “I saw that your juicy juice got whacked onto the ground and you seem a little freaked. I can get you a new one if you want?”

Green-eyes looked friendly, Techno decided. And he knew where the drinks were, something that he hadn’t been able to figure out himself. “I’m fine,” Techno said, as monotone as he could manage while raising his voice. “But can you tell me where I can find the drinks?”

Green-eyes nodded and grabbed Techno by his wrist, who desperately tried to suppress a flinch. “Sure, follow me.”

And so, Techno let himself be dragged through the crowd slowly, stumbling on his feet as if he were drunk like everyone else here. He wasn’t – he really wasn’t, but he felt as if he was. His body was numb, but his senses seemed dialed up to overdrive, picking up so many signals that his brain was starting to melt with all the things it was trying to process.

He vaguely registered that the man was asking him questions, but he didn’t catch a single word that he said over the thumping and ringing in his ears. He wasn’t sure if the music or his own heartbeat drowned out all other sounds.

They stopped at a set of tables that were filled with bottles, buckets and all kinds of cups. The thought of drinking anything had Techno’s stomach tying itself into knots. He really couldn’t drink anything, he didn’t _want_ to drink anything.

He wanted to find Tommy, but Tommy wasn’t here.

Green-eyes motioned at the wide range of bottles. He asked something Techno didn’t quite catch and Techno shook his head stubbornly. He didn’t want drinks. No drinks. Just Tommy. He ripped his wrist free from where green-eyes held on to it so tightly that it started to hurt. Static filled his body and he screwed his eyes shut against the blinding flashing lights and the man’s concerned face.

He couldn’t breathe.

Everything was _too much_ yet at the same time it was not enough to keep him grounded, to keep his mind steady in the present. The air was hot and humid around him, settling like a brick in his lungs and he couldn’t _see_ or distinguish any sounds from the constantly increasing buzzing. His clothes stung his skin and his wet socks taunted him.

He needed to get out of here, now.

His body pushed through the crowd while his mind lagged behind. Everything that touched him scorched his skin. People shouted and shot angry looks at him when they got shoved aside, drinks spilling all over Techno’s clothes, but he barely registered it, sound morphing into a clash of white noise and squinted eyes focused on one thing and one thing only - the exit.

_Get to the exit. Get out of here. Get to the exit._

Just as he was about to run through the door that led to the hallway and front door, he collided with a solid mass that stepped into the room. He pushed and clawed at the person. They had to let him through. He needed to get out of here.

The person stepped back into the hall, closed the door behind them, and grabbed him by his arm. The music was muffled immediately, a stark contrast with the booming noise in the room and automatically, Techno looked up. He was met with the well-known blond that he had been looking for this whole time. Tommy was here.

Tommy was here, and he was speaking, his mouth moved at an incredible speed, but nothing reached Techno. Everything was distorted as though he was moving underwater. But at least he found Tommy.

“-echno? Techno? Are you alright?” Tommy’s voice pierced through the static in his brain. It hurt, and Techno cringed hard.

“Tommy?”

“Yeah, it’s me, I was just taking a piss.” He motioned to the bathroom door behind him. “What’s going on with you?”

The words died on Techno’s tongue as he realized he wasn’t sure what was going on. His mind scrambled to come up with some kind of explanation, but nothing happened, mouth opening and closing without sound.

Tommy eyed him worriedly. “Techno, mate, you need to talk a bit louder. I can’t hear you.”

Techno’s throat closed up even more. The world tilted around him, and Tommy's grasp tightened.

“Whoa, whoa, _Jesus._ I really think you should sit down or something, you’re shaking man.”

Techno couldn’t feel the shaking, but he felt a lot of other things, like how his head was trying to implode on itself and how he really, _really_ couldn’t stand on his feet anymore. His legs gave out under him and he hit the wall with his back, sliding down helplessly until he flopped onto the floor without any of his usual grace.

Harsh noises assaulted his ears again as the door opened once more and green-eyes came running around the corner.

“Ah, there you are!” he shouted. His voice made his ears ring even more and Techno did flinch this time, shrinking away in the corner and clasping his hands over his ears. A high pitched whine clawed his way from his throat against his will and he shut his eyes again, willing everything to just _stop for a second_. There was just _so much_ going on around him that it jumbled up any coherent thought that passed through him.

Please stop.

_Stop._

_Stop._

_Stopstopstopstopstopstopst-_

The door was slammed shut once again, and after that, he didn’t hear anything for a while except the steady ringing in his ears. He curled into a ball on the hard ground. And then, something soft settled on his lap and his hands were pried away from his ears. A weight settled over his ears instead, comforting, grounding. The noise subsided a little bit. What the hell was going on? He tried to get his breathing back under control, focusing on inhaling and exhaling as evenly as possible.

And slowly but surely, the ringing started to ebb away. Someone was talking to him in a low voice, saying things that were too complicated for his fried brain to handle. He cracked open his eyes a bit, welcoming the sudden darkness of the previously illuminated hall. His eyes still burned, but way less now that he was away from the dance floor. A blanket was draped across his lap, and the green-eyed man and Tommy sat crossed legged in front of him. They seemed concerned.

“Hey,” green-eyes whispered. “Can you hear us?”

Techno tried to speak, but his jaw did not cooperate. He probably let out some sound of affirmation, though, because the man continued.

“Okay, that’s good. That’s really good. Uh… How are you feeling?”

Techno opened his mouth to speak and had to swallow two times before he could produce actual words. “Shitty. My head hurts.”

“Yeah, that’s how most people feel after a party, I guess. Except they probably actually had a good time before the feeling shitty part sets in.” The man scratched at his neck awkwardly. “Do you know where you are?”

“A party.”

They both nodded. “Yeah.”

“What the hell happened?” Techno asked.

Tommy joined in. “You had some kind of panic attack. It seemed really bad but we got you fixed up in no time, right Dream?”

The green-eyed man – Dream – nodded. “Yeah. It was more of a sensory overload, I think. You were covering your ears a lot. So, that’s what the headphones are for, by the way. They’re noise-canceling.”

Techno’s hand shot up immediately, finding that the strange pressure on his head was indeed caused by the headphones he was talking about. They weren’t connected to any music, thankfully, and instead, they just muffled all of the outside noise. It made him feel like he was floating.

“Where’d you get these?” Techno asked.

Tommy grinned and pointed to the side, where a dark-haired figure leaned against the wall nonchalantly. “We got them from Sapnap. The bastard doesn’t go anywhere without his own music. I thought he wouldn’t want to lend them to us, but I still managed to pry them from his grubby little hands.”

The figure protested audibly at that and Tommy stuck out his tongue. In the meantime, Dream passed Techno a clear glass that was filled halfway. ‘Water’, Dream mouthed, when he noticed his dumbfounded look. Techno took it, pointedly ignoring the shaking of his hands.

“Anyway, I’m glad it worked,” Tommy said. “Dream came up with the idea. He said that he knew what he was doing and so I thought ‘well there’s no way his idea can make the situation any worse’.”

Dream poked Tommy in his side, who squeaked slightly. “Gee, thanks for the faith in me, Toms. I knew what I was doing. I _always_ know what I’m doing.”

Techno’s eyebrows quirked up at the usage of the nickname. “Do you guys know each other?”

“Of course,” Tommy said. “Dream’s a buddy of mine. Oh, should I introduce you to each other? Dream, this is my brother Technoblade, which I guess you already know by now, and Techno, this is Dream.”

Dream waved at him excitedly, not bothering to do the whole formal handshake thing, and Techno just opted for a timid wave of his hand.

“Is that your real name?” Techno asked.

“Dream? Nah, my name is actually Clay, but my friends call me Dream. Don’t really know why that name stuck, to be honest.”

“Sounds cool, though.”

Dream snorted. “Says the one who’s literally named Technoblade.”

“Yeah, I’ll thank my dad for that,” Techno deadpanned.

They both chuckled as Techno sipped his water, the cool liquid soothing his sore throat. Dream studied his face intently, and if he wasn’t so out of it he probably would have been a little uncomfortable. Tommy noticed it as well, and shot the two of them a confused look before he quickly filled up the growing silence.

“Are you feeling a bit better now, Tech?”

He mulled over the question for quite a while. Did he feel better? The ringing in his ears was reduced to simple background noise, and he could discern their voices again from the muffled music. His eyes and head didn’t hurt as much anymore, but that was probably because they sat in the dark. The only thing that still remained was the trembling. He couldn’t seem to hold still, whole body vibrating with nervous energy.

“Yeah, actually. Still a bit shaky but it's manageable.”

Tommy let out a long breath. “Okay, that’s good. We can work with shaky. How about you just keep sitting here for a minute and I grab the rest of our stuff so we can go, would that be alright with you?”

“Are we going home?”

“Yeah, Dream said he could drive us if you don’t mind. We can pick up your car tomorrow.”

Techno shook his head. “I can drive.”

Dream snickered. “No way. Have you looked at yourself? You look like shit warmed over. If I’d let you drive, you’d probably get the both of you killed when trying to get out of the driveway. Plus, I have barely drunk anything this whole evening so I should be fine.”

“Are you sure it’s not too much of a bother?”

“Dude, it’s fine. Don’t worry.”

Techno nodded and let his head fall back against the wall with a sigh. “Thanks.”

“It’s no problem. I’d rather just be sure that you’d get home safe after what happened.” Dream rested his hand on Techno’s blanket-covered legs shortly, while Techno just stared at where they’d made contact. It didn’t burn anymore, which he was grateful for, but it did still tingle a bit. 

Tommy scraped his throat loudly. “Okay, I’ll – I’m going to grab my stuff. Yeah, okay, uh… I’ll be right back.”

“Did I do something to make this awkward?” Dream asked when Tommy was well out of sight. He scooted slightly closer.

Techno frowned. “No, why?”

“Oh, I thought – Tommy –“

“What about him?”

“Nothing, just – he looked at me in a weird way.”

“Tommy looks at everyone in a weird way. That’s just what he always does.”

Dream seemed to think about that for a little while, a thoughtful look settling over his features. Then he shrugged. “You two are really nothing alike, huh?”

“I’m just going to assume that is a compliment on my behalf,” Techno said.

Dream rolled his eyes. “Well, duh. I don’t think I’d be able to handle two Tommy’s in my life. He’s a great kid, he really is, but he can be a bit much sometimes.”

“He’s just young. And he likes to talk.”

“He does,” Dream answered. “He’s great.” He dropped the subject after that statement and stared at the floor. Techno’s let his eyes slip shut for a bit, exhaustion settling into his body. He didn’t have the energy to continue this conversation.

When Tommy returned with both his own as well as Techno’s coat, Dream helped Techno upright on his shaking legs, the blanket falling to the ground with a soft thud. Once he found his balance, put on his coat, and started heading to the front door, Tommy returned the headphones to Sapnap, who just nodded as they passed him. He seemed like a nice guy. Where did Tommy find all of these people?

“Hey, I’m going to get my car,” said Dream when they stepped onto the front porch, and he scurried over to the outer edges of the huge lawn, which was a fair distance.

As he watched him go, something dawned on Techno and he turned to Tommy, who looked past him with a faraway look in his eyes. “Wait, Tommy. Don’t you want to stay? You really wanted to go to this party.”

Tommy shook his head. “Nah, it's fine. I don’t really feel like partying that much anymore.”

There was disappointment in Tommy’s voice and Techno felt guilt grabbing at his throat. He ruined the party with his stupid freak-out. Why couldn’t he just drink and dance and _have fun_ like a normal person?

“I’m sorry for ruining it.”

Tommy let out a disgruntled noise. “No, no, no. Don’t say that. You didn’t ruin anything, I’m just disappointed in myself. I shouldn’t have pressured you into coming here when I knew you didn’t do well with loads of people and loud music.”

“I wanted to come with you,” Techno protested.

“Did you, though? Because I got the feeling you just came here because _I_ insisted you’d be here, not because you actually wanted to go nuts on the dancefloor yourself.”

Techno sighed. “Well, that may have played a role, but that wasn’t the _only_ reason I was here. I enjoyed myself before the whole meltdown happened. I had fun, danced a little, y’know. Normal people stuff.”

Tommy just looked at him incredulously. “I don’t know if this is because your brain has gone to shit or because I’ve drunk way too much but this is the first time I can actually see that you’re lying to me.”

“What?”

“Listen. I really want you to say no to me if you don’t want to go somewhere or if you’re not comfortable. I ignored your anxieties and only thought about myself. And for that I’m really sorry. From now on, I don’t want you to do anything you don’t like, even if I’m being a whiny bitch about it. Got it?”

Techno nodded and shoved his hands down the pockets of his coat.

“Yeah, okay.”

“Good.”

“Good.”

They waited for Dream to show up in strained silence, until Tommy looped his arm through Techno’s and the tension bled away as if it had never even been there to begin with. They weren’t holding grudges against each other. They were fine. Techno let out a relieved breath.

Not much later, Dream pulled up in front of them in a nice-looking Jeep and rolled down the windows. He grinned down at them, radiating a sense of confidence that made Techno feel strangely at ease. And then, after intense eye contact that seemed to go on forever, he spoke up.

“Ready to go home, boys?”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed it! I'm a sucker for some good old hurt/comfort stuff lol.  
> Comments and kudos are appreciated and really let me get an insight into the number of people that actually like reading my fics, so please leave something behind if you feel like it, it would really help me :)
> 
> Enjoy your day (or night, whatevs)!
> 
> -Tess_01


End file.
